Malcolm
''"It's weird, all my life, Dad has been getting up every morning and dragging himself to a job he hates with every fiber of his being. I can't believe I never noticed. I guess I've been pretty self-centered... Oh, my God... What if that happens to me?" ''- Malcolm Malcolm is the main protagonist of the show. He is an extremely smart (IQ: 165) child prodigy who despite his superior intellect often misbehaves, is egotistical and has a large superiority complex, which is rather justified when looked at against his family and peers. Malcolm has a need to always be right and for everyone to know about it which comes from him being incredibly self-conscience. He is stubborn and persistent, and has a short temper, probably spouting from his loud, difficult family - specifically from his mother, Lois. Despite all these flaws Malcolm is still a very likeable character as the audience can see where his flaws and insecurities come from and can identify with him. The audience can also see how smart Malcolm is compared to the people around him and can therefore see how life is very different for him. This is also helped along by the fact that one of Malcolm's traits is to break the fourth wall in every episode, allowing the audience a view into Malcolm's thoughts about himself and the people around him. Skills and Abilities Malcolm is a genius, and it is shown very often. This is belived to have come from when Hal was trying to educate Reese while Lois was pregnant with Malcolm. Reese absorbed none of the information but it is believed Malcolm got every bit of it. Malcolm's abilities with numbers is unbelievable, as shown in the episode "Krelboyne Picnic", where Malcolm performs an amazing mathematics act where he memorises credit card numbers in seconds, adds the numbers together, multiplies them, square and cube roots them instantly to many decimal places and wows the audience by doing other incredible mathematics puzzles in his head instantaneously. Malcolm also has a brilliant, photograhpic memory. He remebers little details from everything with complete accuract and can tell you which day of the week any day in history was from memory. Malcolm does not have great skill in every area though. For example Malcolm's musical and artistic ability is quite poor. When Malcolm sees Dewey's ability with music he wishes to match him. He takes part in a music appriciation class believing it will be incredibly easy, only to be failed by the teacher for saying Adagio for Strings made him happy. Malcolm also at one point buys a guitar to try and learn and ends up writing a simple song that turns about to be an already existing song. Malcolm is extremely jealous of Dewey's musical talents saying that music is the one thing he is better at than him and that that's not fair. Relationships Family Malcolm's relationship with his family is strained at best. He blames them for most, if not all of the negative things in his life. He is always complaining about how stupid and inferior they are and about how they are the route of all the trouble in his life. He often tries to disassociate himself from them as they constantly embarrass him. He is especially concerned about his family when it comes to the opinion of the neighbours. Malcolm is the only one in the family who cares that the people in the neighbourhood hate them, and can never understand how this does not bother the rest of his family. Despite all this though, Malcolm cares for his family very much, even if he doesn't always show it. For example in "Family Reunion" after Malcolm and his brothers hear Lois crying in the clauset after being insulted by Hal's extended family the brothers proceed to destroy the event by stealing a golf cart, driving it across the lawn and knocking down statues, driving it across a long, outdoor dinner table and eventually driving it into the pool, all while everyone is watching. Lois Malcolm's relationship with his mother has always been one of tension but understanding. He views his mother as overly critical, mean and over-reactive. He often disagrees with his mother on everyday things like punishments, social attitudes and how situations should be handled. However he seems to be very similar to Lois. They both believe that they are always right, they view others as below them and they both have short tempers. This may be why, eventhough Malcolm often shows outward signs of depising his mother, he does not hate her. He knows she loves him very much and does care deeply for Lois and sometimes accepts her views. For example in the final episode, when confronted with the opportunity to accept a six figure job, Lois prevents him from getting it because she says that he will go to Harvard, work hard, and eventually work his way up to becoming President of the United States. While initially angry at his mother for ruining his chance of great wealth, he eventually accepts this fact and realises he can become President, and not only a good President, but a great President. Hal Malcolm's relationship with Hal is fairly good compared to the rest of his family, if not the best relationship he has in terms of his family. Although Malcolm often views his father as below him in terms of intelligence and social levels, and sometimes thinks he is even incredibly stupid, he doesn't hate him or even dislike him like he does with some of the other members of his family. Malcolm may sometimes become iritated at him, like in the episode "Lois' Makeover" and Hal is playing basketball against his sons, and after he starts to lose he begins fouling them in every play. Malcolm becomes iritated at him for this but he has never down right hated him. Reese Animosity is probably the best word to describe the relationship between Malcolm and Reese. They constantly fight and undermine each other, shown best in the episode "Forwards Backwards". Malcolm especially hates Reese because of his ignorance and social ineptness. Sometimes though they have shown to unite. This is usually when being punished (usually by grounding) by Lois together as they now have a common enemy to fight against. Malcolm has also shown some brotherly love for Reese. Malcolm felt great guilt after having cheated with Reese's girlfriend (prompting Reese to join the army), although in the following season he promptly compiles a list of things Reese did to him that he insisted were much worse to try and defend his actions. Dewey Malcolm and Dewey have a somewhat normal brotherly relationship. They fight and argue a lot but also have a certain amount of respect for each other as they see each other as the two most intelligent people in the family. Though this respect turns into contempt for one another a lot of the time. For example when Malcolm becomes jealous of Dewey's musical ability and argues that it's not fair that he is better than him at something. Malcolm also makes fun of and bullies Dewey a lot just as Reese does, sometimes teaming up with Reese to bully him. But just as with the rest of the family Malcolm will defend him and come to his aide, and can even sometimes burry his pride and ask him for help or advice if he needs it. He will try and protect him if he can, like when Dewey is about to take an IQ test to see if he is eligable for the advanced class like Malcolm was in the episode "Dewey's Special Class". Francis Francis seems to be the brother Malcolm likes the most and gets along with the best, though they have their rough moments. Being the oldest brother Malcolm looked up to Francis when he was younger and always looked forward to his visits, and while he still looks forward to seeing him as he gets older, Malcolm sees more of Francis' flaws. When faced with a difficult situation Francis is normally the first one Malcolm calls for advice, even though most of the advice he was looking for was how to get out of trouble. Francis can still cause anger in Malcolm though, for example, when Francis got emancipated and tried to stay in the boys bedroom while visiting becuase Lois would not let him in the house, Malcolm and his brothers see him as a traitor, saying that eventhough sometimes they didn't like Lois, they would NEVER abandon her. Even so, Malcolm and Francis, on the whole, get along fairly well. Category:Characters